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Key Facts
- Federal level: The nationwide COVID-19 federal eviction moratoriums were temporary measures, not a permanent ban on residential evictions.
- Federal level: Congress created a 120-day moratorium for certain federally connected rental properties in March 2020.
- Federal level: The CDC later issued a broader public-health order covering qualifying tenants, but the Supreme Court ended its practical effect on August 26, 2021.
- Federal and state: The former federal moratorium did not cancel rent, erase arrears, or replace state and local landlord-tenant law.
- Federal and state: State, local, housing-program, bankruptcy, and disaster protections are legally distinct from the expired nationwide CDC order.
There is no general nationwide federal eviction moratorium left over from the COVID-19 pandemic. The best-known federal measures expired or were halted in 2020 and 2021. Current eviction rights and procedures ordinarily depend on state and local law, the lease, and any separate federal housing program that covers the property or household.
The phrase “federal eviction moratorium” can refer to several different pandemic-era actions. Congress first protected tenants in certain federally connected properties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later issued a broader public-health order. Those measures had different legal sources, coverage rules, and end dates.
The CARES Act created the first federal pandemic moratorium
Section 4024 of the CARES Act began on March 27, 2020. For 120 days, it restricted eviction filings for nonpayment and certain related charges in a defined group of “covered properties.” These included properties participating in specified federal housing programs and properties with certain federally backed mortgage loans.
The CARES Act protection was never a universal rule for every rental home. Coverage depended on the property’s federal connection, not simply on a tenant’s loss of income or exposure to COVID-19. The 120-day filing moratorium ended on July 24, 2020.
Section 4024 also addressed notice to vacate after the temporary filing ban. That notice language became the subject of later agency guidance and litigation, illustrating why an expired moratorium and a separate notice requirement should not be treated as the same rule.
The CDC order used public-health authority
On September 4, 2020, the CDC issued an order temporarily halting certain residential evictions for nonpayment of rent. It relied on Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, a federal disease-control statute. Unlike the CARES Act provision, the CDC order was an agency action rather than a moratorium enacted directly by Congress.
The order generally depended on a tenant meeting stated eligibility conditions and giving a declaration to the landlord. It did not relieve anyone of the obligation to pay rent, and fees or interest could continue if permitted by the lease and applicable law. It also did not bar every kind of eviction; the order listed reasons unrelated to nonpayment that could still support removal.
Congress extended the CDC order through January 31, 2021, and the agency issued additional extensions. The version in effect during July 2021 expired at the end of that month. On August 3, the CDC issued a narrower order aimed at counties experiencing substantial or high COVID-19 transmission, with a stated expiration date of October 3, 2021.
The Supreme Court halted the final CDC order
Landlord and real-estate groups challenged the CDC’s statutory authority. In Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, the Supreme Court vacated a lower-court stay on August 26, 2021, making the judgment against the moratorium enforceable.
The Court concluded that the challengers were virtually certain to succeed on their argument that Section 361 did not authorize an eviction moratorium of that scope. The Court emphasized that Congress must speak clearly before an agency exercises powers of vast economic and political significance. It also described landlord-tenant relations as an area traditionally governed by state law.
The decision did not decide that Congress could never enact an eviction moratorium. It held that the CDC could not derive this sweeping power from the statutory language it invoked. That distinction is a useful example of how an agency’s policy authority differs from Congress’s power to pass legislation under the constitutional system and the Administrative Procedure Act framework.
What the moratorium did not do
A moratorium pauses or limits a legal process for a period; it does not necessarily eliminate the underlying obligation. The federal pandemic orders did not forgive unpaid rent. When protection ended, accumulated rent could remain due, subject to rental-assistance payments, agreements, defenses, and governing law.
The moratorium also was not a federal foreclosure moratorium. Foreclosure concerns enforcement against a property owner after mortgage default, while eviction generally concerns possession of a rental home. Pandemic programs sometimes addressed both at the same time, but they used different authorities and applied to different legal relationships.
Nor did the federal order decide the outcome of every eviction case. State courts administer most landlord-tenant proceedings, and state or local law controls many notices, filing grounds, defenses, hearing procedures, and enforcement steps. A federal pause could temporarily restrict some cases without replacing that underlying system.
Why other protections may still matter
The end of the CDC order does not mean every tenant stands in the same legal position. A state or locality may enact its own temporary protection within its authority. Federally assisted housing programs can impose lease-termination, notice, grievance, or good-cause requirements. Bankruptcy can trigger an automatic stay, although special rules limit its effect in some residential eviction matters.
Disaster-specific relief is another separate category. Federal housing agencies sometimes announce time-limited foreclosure or eviction measures for properties linked to their programs in presidentially declared disaster areas. Such a measure is geographically and programmatically limited; it is not a revival of the nationwide CDC moratorium.
Emergency Rental Assistance was also different from a moratorium. It funded state, local, territorial, and tribal programs that could pay eligible housing costs and support eviction-prevention work. Treasury reports that the ERA2 award period ended on September 30, 2025, so older descriptions of open pandemic programs may no longer reflect current availability.
How to read a current moratorium claim
A claim that an “eviction moratorium” exists is incomplete without its issuing authority, location, covered property or household, protected grounds, and end date. A court order pausing one case is not a statewide moratorium. A foreclosure pause for federally insured mortgages is not a tenant eviction ban. A proposed bill is not an enacted protection.
The nationwide COVID-era sequence is now historical: the CARES Act imposed a limited 120-day moratorium in 2020, the CDC issued and extended a broader order, and the Supreme Court halted the final version in August 2021. Any present protection must rest on a different and current source of law.
Sources
- Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services
- CDC order published at 86 Federal Register 43244
- Congressional Research Service summary of CARES Act Title IV
- Congressional Research Service, Housing Issues in the 116th Congress
- HUD eviction-moratorium frequently asked questions
- U.S. Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program
